Lanny Bergner

Lanny Bergner, mixed media sculptor, fiber, basketry and installation artist creates organic constructions out of manmade materials.Lanny Bergner is a mixed-media sculptor, installation, fiber and sculptural basketry artist. He was born in Anacortes, WA in 1952 and received his BFA in sculpture from the University of Washington in 1981 and an MFA in sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 1983. His work is in numerous museum collections including the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Museum of Art and Design, NY, NY; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA and The Central Museum of Textile, Łódź, Poland. In 1995 he won the Betty Bowen Memorial Award, administered by the Seattle Art Museum. In 2005 he won a Gold Prize at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Cheongju, Korea and was invited to create an installation “Between Earth and Sky” at the 2007 Cheongju International Craft Biennale. In 2010 he was one of five American artists who exhibited in the prestigious 13th International Triennial of Tapestry in Łódź, Poland. His work was recently included in the book “Fiber Art Today,” a survey of contemporary international fiber artists, published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

The ethereal quality of Lanny’s work is in contrast to the mundane materials he uses to construct them. They are created using industrially woven bronze, brass, aluminum and stainless steel mesh, silicone, wire and glass frit. Using only a linesman pliers and cutting shear, he employs inventive yet simple joining techniques to transform mesh into semi-transparent organic structures, vessels and geometric constructions. In his most recent works he employs pyrography techniques to “flame paint” abstract imagery onto sheets of stainless steel mesh and vessel forms using a propane torch.

His work reference biomorphic forms (plant biology, microorganisms, undersea creatures), earth geology and cosmology. They engage the viewer with glimpses into a world where nature and manmade material coalesce. They celebrate the mystery and wonder of it all. Lanny has been creating biomorphic and geometric constructions and installations out of metal mesh since 1983. He maintains a studio on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes, WA.

By using hands-on processes of coiling, fraying, twisting, wrapping, gluing and knotting, he transforms bronze, brass, aluminum and stainless steel screening, wire, silicone, monofilament and glass frit into "other worldly" constructions. "My aim is to bring the natural/artificial and man/nature together into an assemblage of forms that appear to have, grown into being. I love the natural world and am constantly inspired by its beauty and varieties of form. This, in combination with my fears, quirks and joys, results in works that celebrates the mystery and wonder of it all".

In addition to his signature organic suspended works Bergner will also exhibit two new bodies of work; basketry works which reference architectural forms and the human body as well as four modular constructions based on grids and patterns.